Those are quite high. I got back my oldest daughters first RAST for peanut today which is 0.95. However, my youngests wheals for milk and eggs were so big I did not do a RAST on her. Having to give blood would be no fun for her...and the allergist said I probably would not even want to know the numbers because they would be so high.

I spoke with our allergist today about my son's RAST scores. She informed me that she hasn't met anyone as 'allergic' as my son in her practice (she works in Toronto). As you may have previously read, my 3 year old is anaphylactic to *way* too many foods. Taking him to daycares etc. (or libraries or community centres or anywhere else kids get to be kids) is out of the question, because he reacts to trace amounts (and as you can imagine, there are almost always trace amounts of either milk, wheat, eggs, and/or soy on most 3 year olds. Add to this peas/lentils/legumes, peanuts, treenuts and shellfish, and you begin to see how scary it is for my little guy to be safe in the world). The only friends we have that have 3-ish year old kids have pets, and that doesn't work either (asthma issues).

Needless to say, he has no friends his age (and our 16 month old is a Baby Tazmanian Devil, which makes it difficult for the 2 brothers to bond!).

Is there anyone out in the sw ontario region with a similar situation? We would love to get together with you!

I apologize if I'm being too 'high maintenance'. I don't mean to sound defeated, because I know ultimately we'll get through this. However, it would be nice to share the journey with others who 'get' the anaphylaxis part of our lives.

I read your first post and I thought "Wow - what a really positive person, she sounds so upbeat and chipper in spite of having this challenge! I wish I could be like that."

You don't sound high-maintenance at all! I live in BC so I can't get together with you, but I hope you find some good friends for your little guy. My son's best friend has the same allergies as he does and it just makes everything easier - maybe you could start a little group for kids with allergies. I met the other mom at a support group and we got our kids together and it really helped them both. It helped me so much to, to just have another mom to talk to (in those long, sad days before this forum ). When we had a bad allergy day we would just phone each other and vent, we totally understood what the other was going through and we could get our feelings (that know one else understood) out.

I have to agree with Pamela Lee, you don't sound high maintenance but we too are not close enough, Victoria, BC.

Our son was 2 when he was diagnosed. Topic reaction to peanut butter was immediate, the prick test (there must be another name for this that I have forgotten), was negative and the blood test was positive.

He was about a 7 for peanut. Before he entered school we had him tested again, age 5 and were specific for other nuts and other high allergens. His number for peanut went to 20 and cashews were 18. Everything else was below .084 or whatever the base indicator is. The allergist said he only had two other patients before that also did this. He was practising in Manitoba and their numbers were over 100. I can't remember the ages of the children.

We have kept him away from nuts and our allergist said that he was either exposed and we didn't know it, which really freaks me out, or his numbers were just naturally going up when we tested him.

Thanks for the kind words! I actually made a mistake in my previous post ... he's not level 5 for the 100 scores. He's level 6. Ooops! I spoke with Dr. Waserman's VERY nice nurse Jan who was completely sympathetic and nurturing (which was great, because I was feeling pretty wounded and pathetic!). Thank you all for letting me share my woes.

I suppose we just keep smiling, remember to feel good doing what we're doing, and try to worry less (even if it's just a minute at a time).

Another ana mom told me that after you find out the diagnosis there is a bit of grieving process to go through. It does get better each day and each time you experience a new scenario may be day care or school, even restaurant, you get stronger because you get through it.

I blogged about this sometime last year. I know that I went through all the stages of grief as I was dealing with my son's allergies: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I still go through denial when he hasn't had a reaction in a while, then do a lot of bargaining after a reaction.

Does anyone know when the RAST test can be done. My twins are 6 months old and my daughter is 31/2 years. We know they are allergic to milk and soy and peanuts? My oldest has seen the allergist and has had the skin test. I'd like the RAST done for a basline on all them.

As far as I know you can get it anytime. You just need your allergist or family doctor to write you up a form for the lab. Our son got it done once a year just before school but because his result readings were higher every time we got it done, we are getting it done every six months.

You ask for specific allergens. In BC,I believe for free, we are allowed up to five allergens to be tested a year. If I understand correctly or remember correctly, if the possible reaction is life threatening it is also free.

They probably won't test your twins because they're too young, and allergies can change dramatically in the first couple of years. But that probably will depend on your allergist. Mine didn't want to scratch test the baby until he was over a year old; I suspect they would have had the same position on the RAST.

I've heard that the RAST is $1000 per test, which is why we're limited to 5 allergens per year.

durocp, I see that you're living in Ontario, when we did my son's RAST for peanut, it was not covered by OHIP (Ontario's health plan), but it only cost us approximately $35.00 (perhaps if you have private health insurance it would cover it?). I would check with your allergist about when to test with the RAST -- I'm sure every case is unique.

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